Also See: Samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity

Last Updated 16/06/2025

Introduction: The Three-Fold Path of Light

The Kōmyōzō Zanmai is one of the most luminous and direct transmissions in the Zen tradition. Authored by Koun Ejō, the direct Dharma successor of Eihei Dōgen, this text is not a mere philosophical argument. It is a direct pointing to the nature of reality. In this reflection, we will explore the meticulous path it lays out for the practitioner, a path that can be understood in three major phases:

1. The Foundational Realization of Pure Presence ("I AM"): The initial breakthrough of dis-identifying from the contents of mind (thoughts, feelings) and recognizing the timeless, formless, ever-present awareness that is the ground of all experience. This is the discovery of the "numinous awareness" (靈知, líng zhī).
2. The Initial Non-Dual Insight (Substantialist Nonduality / Non-Dual Radiance): The realization that all phenomena are not merely inseparable from but ARE the luminous, radiant display of a single Mind. The subject-object divide collapses into a unified, radiant field. This is a profound insight, but as we will see, it can lead to the subtle reification of Mind as an ultimate, existing ground or Self, where all things are seen as expressions of this one Self—a deviation from the Buddhist path.
3. The Profound Insight into Anātman (Insubstantialist Nonduality): A crucial and liberating realization that paves the way for even deeper insights. Here, even the single, radiant Mind is seen to be empty of any inherent, independent self-nature (svabhāva). It is not a substance, but the crystal clear knowingness not found anywhere apart from the dynamic, selfless, agentless, and radiantly impermanent process. Reality is understood not as nouns (a Seer seeing a scene), but as pure, spontaneous, sentient verbs (seeing-happening). This is the direct experience of impermanence itself as Buddha-Nature.

In this reflection, we will explore not only Ejō's pointing but also practical methods of self-enquiry. While we do not know the exact pedagogical tools Ejō used with his students, the methods discussed here, drawn from the broader Dharma tradition, can serve as potent tools to directly realize the profound truths to which he points.

The Prefaces: A Lineage of Reverence

The historical prefaces by Mitsuun and Menpō frame the text not as a mere book, but as a sacred relic—a direct conduit to the mind of the enlightened ancestors. Their palpable joy at its rediscovery underscores its importance. For them, these words were not just teachings about the light; they were the living transmission of the light. They establish an unbroken lineage from the ancient Buddhas to Ejō, asserting that what follows is the authentic, undiluted heart of the Dharma.

Part 1: Defining the Treasury of Light - The Luminous, Sentient Heart of Reality

Ejō begins by defining his central metaphor: the Treasury of Light (光明藏, kōmyōzō). Critically, this is not a cold, empty void. This is a universe that "has a Heart." Ejō’s light is not the lifeless photon of physics; it is a vibrant, intelligent, and numinous luminosity (靈光, líng guāng). This "radiance" is the very texture of reality itself, synonymous with what other traditions might call pristine consciousness or pure knowingness. It is the intrinsic clarity and wakefulness of Mind. When Zen masters speak of numinous awareness (靈知, líng zhī), they are pointing to this very same principle—an intelligent light that is not seen with the eyes, but is the very aware, noetic capacity behind seeing, hearing, and knowing. It is the sentient, aware quality that makes experience possible.

Realizing the Source: The 'I AM' Before All Things: Ejō establishes that this Light is the "source of all Buddhas, the inherent nature of all beings, the total body of all things." This is a direct pointing towards the first crucial breakthrough on the path: the realization of the formless Source or Ground of Being. This is the insight into the "I AM" that was present before Abraham, the "Original Face before your parents were born." It is the direct, non-conceptual realization of the Mind that is prior to all sensory and conceptual experience—prior to seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking.

The purpose of self-enquiry, as taught in Zen and other direct paths, is to guide the mind back to this very Source. Questions like, "Without thoughts, tell me what is your very mind right now?" are not seeking a conceptual answer like "void" or "hollow." Such answers are products of the thinking mind. The question is a tool to exhaust the intellect and create an opening for direct recognition. As Ramana Maharshi explained, the enquiry "Who am I?" is like the stick used to stir a funeral pyre—it destroys all other thoughts and is finally destroyed itself, revealing the doubtless Self that remains.

This realization is not necessarily achieved by entering deep meditative states where the senses shut down, though such states can intensify the absorption. As many masters have pointed out, it is a matter of realizing what is already, undeniably present. You exist, and you are aware that you exist. This is not just a vague or mental noticing of “Oh, I exist” but a unshakeable, doubtless realization of the Truth of Being. This dawning of a direct certainty of your own Beingness, this objectless Presence-Awareness, is the foundational realization. It is the simple, direct taste of your own essence before it is clothed in the five senses or labeled by the thinking mind.

The "All is Mind-Only" Insight (As a Subsequent, Pedagogic Tool): After the foundational realization of the formless Source, the path often leads to a distinct, further insight that directly corresponds to the Yogācāra (Cittamātra) teaching that "the three realms are mind-only" (三界唯心). This is the realization that all external objects are nothing but luminous manifestations of one's own mind, collapsing the naive dualism of an inner self and an outer world into a single, unified field of Mind.

However, it is absolutely essential to understand the true intent of this teaching. As explained by Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche, the great Mādhyamika masters refute the Cittamātra system only when it is misunderstood. The error lies in reifying the mind as a truly existing substance. As Mipham says:

"self-styled proponents of the Cittamātra tenets, when speaking of mind-only, say that there are no external objects but that the mind exists substantially—like a rope that is devoid of snakeness, but not devoid of ropeness... they believe the nondual consciousness to be truly existent on the ultimate level. It is this tenet that the Mādhyamikas repudiate."

Cittamātra, correctly understood, is not a metaphysical assertion of a transcendental, ultimate Mind (like Brahman). Rather, it is an expedient pedagogic tool designed to break our attachment to the reality of external objects. The progressive path, as outlined by Asaṅga and echoed by Brunnhölzl, is as follows:

1. One first understands that all phenomena are simply the mind.
2. Subsequently, one has the experience that there is no object to be apprehended in the mind.
3. Then, one realizes that because there is no object, neither is there a subject (a mind cognizing them).
4. Immediately after, one attains the direct realization of ultimate reality, devoid of the duality of subject and object.

Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche clarifies this subtle point perfectly. He explains that while Mādhyamika masters refute a substantially existing mind, they do not refute the valid, conventional realization of a non-dual "self-illuminating gnosis." Mipham states:

"If, on the other hand, that consciousness is understood to be unborn from the very beginning (i.e. empty), to be directly experienced by reflexive awareness, and to be self-illuminating gnosis without subject or object, it is something to be established."

This "self-illuminating gnosis" is the profound ground of non-dual radiance—a direct, valid experience on the path. The critical point Mipham makes is that this gnosis is established conventionally as a valid realization while being understood as ultimately empty and unborn from the very beginning. The substantialist error, which Dōgen and all Buddhist masters refute, is to mistake this valid realization for a final truth by granting it its own independent essence, separate from the vivid, selfless self-knowing/self-luminous appearances cognized. The deeper insight into anātman deconstructs even this luminous ground, revealing that it has no inherent existence apart from its own manifestations.

The Realization of "No-Attainment" (Mushotoku): Ejō’s emphasis on "no-attainment" (无所得, mushotoku) is the key that unlocks the entire path. This principle is supported by classic Zen dialectics, such as his reference to the Way being unobtainable by either 'a mind of existence' or a 'mind of non-existence' (无心, mushin), pointing directly to the ungraspable, unfindable, and empty nature of Mind itself. The anātman insight reveals that there is no static, background consciousness or "Source" to be attained, only the dynamic, radiant foreground of appearances — everything is no less “I AM” (Mind) than “I AM” when the illusion of a background substrate is seen through. As John Tan explains, this "background" is an illusion fabricated by a dualistic mind seeking something to hold on to, for in truth, even the “I AM” Presence awakened to initially is not some underlying background behind everything else but merely another foreground manifestation that is simply one of the ten thousand faces of nondual Presence, and nondual Presence has no (inherently existing) face of its own besides these ten thousand faces. The realization of mushotoku is the direct seeing-through of this illusion. It is not just that Mind is already here; it is that there is no "Mind" as a separate, attainable entity apart from the transient phenomena themselves. Realization, therefore, is not an act of acquisition but the cessation of all seeking, which dawns when the fundamentally unobtainable, empty nature of reality is directly and irrefutably seen.

Part 2: The Foundational Realization - Discovering the Ground of "I AM"

This initial breakthrough is the shift from identifying with the contents of experience to identifying with the context in which they appear—the silent, ever-present space of awareness itself. This is the numinous awareness (靈知, líng zhī). Ejō uses "Class 1 Kōans" to trigger this insight by turning attention away from the object of perception and back towards the perceiver itself.

Linji's Pointing: "Now tell me, what is it that knows how to preach the Dharma and listen to the Dharma?" The Enjoyer of Life: "Now tell me: when you piss and shit right now... whose enjoyment is this, ultimately?"

It is crucial here to distinguish between a mere glimpse or recognition of this "I AM" Presence, and its full, abiding realization. Many practitioners may experience fleeting moments of recognizing the formless witness. This is a vital first step. However, Self-Realization proper is the direct, unshakeable certainty of this Beingness, a Eureka! realization beyond all doubt of what one’s Essence or Ground of Being is. The purpose of sustained self-enquiry is to deepen these initial recognitions until they mature into an abiding, unshakable Reality.

Expanded Practical Enquiry: Finding the Listener ("I AM") These are not questions for the intellect, but tools for direct investigation designed to transform glimpses into certainty.

Method 1: Koan and Direct Pointing (The Zen Method)

1. Settle and Ask: Sit quietly in a comfortable posture. Allow your body and mind to settle. Become aware of the ambient sounds in the room.
2. Turn the Question Inward: Now, with genuine curiosity, turn your attention inward and ask Linji's question: "What is it that is hearing these sounds right now?"
3. Investigate Directly and Relentlessly: Your conceptual mind will immediately try to answer with labels. Discard them. The instruction is to find out who is the listener, or what is listening to the sound.
4. The Realization of Objectless Presence: As you search with sustained, non-conceptual diligence, a profound recognition will dawn: you cannot find the listener as an object, however, It is undeniably present—clearly, something is aware of that sound, that awareness and presence is undeniable—but it is formless, boundless, and objectless. It has no center and no edge—it is an all-pervading pure Presence. This is not a realization of nothingness, but a direct certainty of Beingness that is simply without object. This direct, non-conceptual recognition of the formless, ever-present knower is the initial insight. Rest in this open, knowing space of Being.

Method 2: Self-Enquiry and Neti-Neti (The Vedantic Method)

1. Systematic Negation: Ask, "Am I this body?" Feel the sensations of the body. You are the awareness of them. Conclude firmly: "Not this." Observe a thought. Ask, "Am I this thought?" You are the witness of it. "Not this."
2. What Remains? After you have negated everything perceivable, what is left is the irreducible, undeniable, subjective sense of presence, of knowing, of being—the "I AM."

Part 3: The Profound Insight into Anātman: From Non-Dual Radiance to Selfless Impermanence

The realization of "I AM" is a profound and stable ground, but it is not the end of the Buddhist path. It can become a subtle trap—a reified "True Self" or Universal Consciousness, a view Dōgen directly refuted as the Senika heresy. The Buddhist insight into anātman goes deeper. It involves turning the light of enquiry onto Awareness and phenomena themselves, revealing them as empty of any permanent, independent, or substantial self-nature. This progression from a substantialist to an insubstantialist non-dual view is absolutely critical.

Stage 3a: The Initial Non-Dual Insight: Realizing Non-Dual Radiance This first non-dual breakthrough is pointed to by "Class 2 Kōans" like Changsha's:

"Zen Master Changsha said to the assembly, 'The entire ten-direction world is the eye of a monk... the entire ten-direction world is one's own light.'"

This kōan directs the practitioner to the realization that the entire world is a seamless, luminous display of Mind. It is the insight that all appearances ARE the radiance of consciousness (心相一如). This is a profound experience of non-duality. However, as John Tan clarifies, this initial insight is often characterized by a "hyperreal" vividness. The world appears with a magical, stark clarity, but it may not yet be seen as "unreal" or empty. One can realize that "all is Mind's radiance" and still subtly cling to "Mind" or "Radiance" as a real, underlying substance—a substantialist view.

Stage 3b: The Deeper Anātman Insight: Realizing Insubstantiality and Agentlessness The full insight into anātman requires a further step: penetrating the empty, selfless, and transient nature of all phenomena, including the radiant Mind itself. This requires a unified practice that deconstructs both the agent, self-view, view of inherent self-nature, and reveals the nondual radiance as appearances simultaneously. The Bahiya Sutta provides the ultimate instruction for this, and the two stanzas of contemplation are a direct, practical application of its wisdom.

Expanded Practical Enquiry: A Unified Practice for Anātman based on the Bahiya Sutta

The Synergy: The Bahiya Sutta's core instruction—"In the seeing, just the seen"—encapsulates both stanzas. "Just the seen" means there is no "seer" (Stanza 1) and that the "seen" itself is not a solid object but is merely the phenomenal display (Stanza 2). As John Tan emphasized, these two aspects must be realized together for a complete insight.

The Practice:

1. Begin with a Single Perception: Settle your mind and focus on one continuous sensory experience. For example, look at a cup on a table.
2. Apply the Bahiya Sutta's Instruction to Deconstruct the Experience:
• Strip Away the Label: Look at the cup. The word "cup" is a learned concept. Before that label, what is your direct, empirical experience? It is a collection of colors, shapes, shadows, and reflections. That is all. Return to this raw, pre-conceptual data.
• Contemplate the First Stanza (Agentlessness): Now, bring in the first stanza: "There is seeing, no seer." As you look at these colors and shapes, search for the independent "seer" who is doing the looking. Can you find it? You will only find the impersonal process of seeing itself. There is no agent.
• Contemplate the Second Stanza (Non-Dual Radiance): Now, bring in the second stanza, framed by the Bahiya Sutta's radical directness: "In the seeing, just the seen." The word "just" is the key. It means there is nothing else there. The practice is to see through the illusion that there are two separate parts to vision: 1) the seer, and the act of seeing and 2) the object seen.
• Investigate deeply: See that the “seeing” and "awareness" do not exist as something inherent or with its own essence apart from the colors; the colors ARE the knowing radiance, and that all phenomena are not inert objects but are the self-luminous, self-knowing radiance of Mind itself. Likewise, the "seen" (the raw colors and shapes) is not a separate object "out there" being perceived by a "seeing" "in here." The visual objects ARE the colors and shapes, and these colors and shapes ARE the seeing. You never experience an "unseen color"; they are one single, indivisible process. The entire visual field is not an object to your mind; it IS the active, knowing radiance of Mind itself.

The Liberating Insight of "Not Being 'With That'": The Bahiya Sutta's instruction culminates in liberation: "Then, Bahiya, as you are not thereby, you will not be therein. As you are not therein, it will be clear to you that there is no here or there or in between. This, just this, is the end of suffering." This points to the final fruit of the Hinayana path, Arhatship. The crucial, irreversible step on this path is the direct insight into anātman. When it is directly realized that the colors ARE the seeing, and that there is no seer, the entire foundation for a self-view (sakkāya-diṭṭhi) collapses. This direct seeing-through of the illusion of a self/Self marks the attainment of Stream-entry (Sotāpanna), after which the final cessation of suffering described by the Buddha is certain when the practice of sila, samadhi, prajna is perfected and comes to complete fruition.

The Ultimate Collapse: As Thusness/John Tan points out, the final deconstruction goes even further. "In hearing, only sound. No hearing." Ultimately, even the verb "hearing" or "seeing" is a subtle conceptual overlay. The final insight collapses the entire structure. There is not even "seeing happening." There is simply (self-seen/self-aware/self-knowing) radiant color. There is simply sound. The raw phenomenal datum arises agentlessly as the luminosity of Mind that is No-Mind.

The Merged, Unified Insight of Anātman: When this practice matures, the insights from the two stanzas merge into a single, direct perception of reality. This is the Pellucid No-Self, which has two key facets, corresponding to the two stanzas:

1. Agentless Unfolding (The Fruit of the First Stanza): Through contemplating "no seer," "no hearer," you directly realize that experience unfolds without a central coordinating agent or "doer." Actions happen, thoughts think, and senses sense, but no one is authoring them.
2. Non-Dual Radiance (The Fruit of the Second Stanza): Through contemplating "in seeing just the seen," "in hearing just the heard," you realize that there is no "awareness", "seeing", or "hearing" apart from the colors; the colors ARE the knowing radiance, and that all phenomena are not inert objects but are the self-luminous, self-knowing radiance of Mind itself.

When unified, this insight reveals reality as a seamless, agentless, and dynamic process. It is a world of verbs, not nouns. There is no "Seer" seeing a "scene," only seeing-happening, which ultimately resolves into just scenery. Everything is at zero distance, gaplessly intimate, self-seen and self-heard without duality, as the radiant knowingness of Mind that is No-Mind.

The Nature of This Realization (Dōgen's View): This agentless, selfless process is not a cold, mechanical, or dead unfolding. It is the very Buddha-Nature itself in dynamic expression. This view is central to the Sōtō lineage to which Ejō was the direct successor. As Dōgen, his master, taught:

Dōgen: "Therefore, ahe very impermanency of grass and tree, thicket and forest is the Buddha nature... Supreme and complete enlightenment, because it is impermanent, is the Buddha nature."

The "light" of the Kōmyōzō Zanmai is not the light of a permanent, unchanging ground. It is the brilliant, radiant light of moment-to-moment arising and ceasing. The final view is not a static abiding in a peaceful Awareness; it is the dynamic, effortless, and compassionate living as this transient, radiant reality.

Part 4: Shattering the Obstacles on the Path

With this three-phase model of realization in mind, Ejō’s warnings about the pitfalls of practice become even clearer. They are precisely the errors that prevent this progression.

• Seeking an External Light: One of the most common pitfalls, which Ejō warns against repeatedly, is to conceptualize "light" as a sensory object or a phenomenon with specific characteristics. He states that this luminosity "is not blue, yellow, red, white, or black." He then describes how "foolish people," upon hearing the word "light," immediately begin to search for something akin to "the glow of a firefly, like lamplight, like the luminosity of the sun, moon, gold, or jade." This act of objectifying the light is a fundamental error. It keeps the practitioner trapped as a "seeker" looking for a "sought" object, reinforcing the very subject-object duality they are trying to transcend. By looking for a radiance "out there" to be perceived, one misses the crucial point: the true light is the formless, ever-present knower itself. Therefore, seeing through this trap is the essential first step, requiring one to abandon the search for any special appearance and instead turn the faculty of awareness back upon itself to realize the "I AM" presence directly.
• The Trap of Stillness (The "State" vs. "Principle" Error): Mistaking a quiet mental state for realization is a common pitfall. This is often confusing a dull, non-conceptual state for the vibrant, clear light of pristine awareness. The "I AM" is not a dull blankness; it is bright, luminous knowingness and pure Presence.
• The Reification of Consciousness: This often arises after the initial non-dual insight (realizing non-dual radiance). The practitioner feels they have found the "True Mind" or Universal Consciousness and reifies it into a subtle new identity. This is why the deeper anātman enquiry is necessary—to deconstruct this final, subtle "Self.", not the egoic self but the Great Self with capital ‘S’.

Part 5: The Flame Sermon - Reality as Non-Dual, Total Radiance

The metaphor of the "great mass of fire" (大火聚, daikaju), which Ejō invokes, is a powerful and direct pointer to the nature of non-dual radiance as appearance.

• A Total, Immersive Field: A great fire is an all-encompassing reality. It is not an object that one can stand apart from and observe. To approach it is to be enveloped by its heat and light. This illustrates that there is no standpoint from which one can observe reality. The deeper truth of anātman is that there is no "one" to be apart, nor an "it" to be apart from.
• The Directness of Appearance: This provides the perfect context for Yunmen's famous answer. When asked, "What is this luminosity of yours?", he doesn't point to a mystical source or offer a philosophical concept. He points directly at the "great mass of fire" that is the raw, vivid, phenomenal world right in front of everyone: "The monks' hall, the Buddha hall. The kitchen, the storehouse, the temple gate."

The kitchen is the fire. The temple gate is the fire. The luminosity is not hidden behind these appearances; the appearances themselves, in their direct and undeniable presence, ARE the luminosity. The "great mass of fire" is not a symbol for anything else; it is a direct pointer to the totality and immediacy of the radiant phenomenal field itself. It is the inescapable, all-encompassing Treasury of Light.

Part 6: The Life of Realization - "The Person of Old"

The "person of old" (旧时人, kyūjinin) is the one who lives from this integrated, anātman understanding. The distinction between a substantial Mind and the world has vanished.

• Effortless Functioning (无为, wúwéi): This person is "like a great dead man" because the separate, striving ego-agent is dead. Yet they are fully alive and responsive. Their actions are not decided upon; they flow spontaneously from the totality of the situation. This is the effortless action that arises when there is no "one" standing apart to calculate or contrive.
• The World as Selfless, Radiant Process: For this person, the world is no longer an external object being perceived by an internal subject. The colors on the mountains, the changing of seasons, the feeling of the breath—all are direct, immediate, and selfless expressions of the one, dynamic, radiant reality. There is no longer a "me" seeing a "flower." There is only the sentient, selfless verb of flowering-seeing.

Part 7: The Path After Anātman - Practice-Enlightenment and the Two Wings

The profound insight into anātman is not a final endpoint, but a crucial gateway. It marks the end of the seeker and the path of deliberate "how-to" practice in one sense, but it is the beginning of a different, deeper mode of practice in another. It is a grave error to conclude that because there is no-self, there is nothing to do. The correct understanding is the opposite: because there is no fixed self, there is only the ongoing flow of ignorance and afflicted activities that need to be addressed. The insight into anātman becomes the very motivation for continued, correctly-oriented practice.

Practice-Enlightenment (修証一如, shushō-ittō): This is where Dōgen's core teaching becomes the living reality of the practitioner. The insight into anātman reveals that there was never a separation between practice and enlightenment to begin with. Practice is not a means to an end (a future enlightenment). Rather, every moment of rightly-oriented practice, such as shikantaza (just sitting), IS the direct expression and actualization of awakening and Buddha-nature. This is what Dōgen's teacher Rujing meant by "dropping off body and mind"—it is not a goal to be achieved, but the very act of zazen itself, free from the coverings of desire and delusion.

The Two Wings of Wisdom (Prajñā) and Compassion (Karuṇā): The post-anātman path is often described as the cultivation of the two wings of a bird, which must be in balance for flight.

The Maturation of Wisdom: The focus of practice after the initial anātman insight shifts from acquiring a realization to the natural functioning and maturation of wisdom (prajñā). This is not a passive process but an ongoing, dynamic authentication of the truth in every moment, which deepens the understanding of dependent origination. A critical aspect of this maturation involves seeing through a subtle layer of reality that can initially be mistaken for the final truth. It is the progression from experiencing the "realness" or vividness of phenomena to simultaneously realizing their empty, dream-like nature.

As John Tan clarifies, there is a crucial distinction between two intertwined insights:

"Tasting the 'realness' of what appears and what appears is nothing real are two different insights... It is not only realizing mere appearances are just one's radiance clarity but that empty clarity is like a rainbow. Beautiful and clearly appears, but nothing 'there' at all. These two aspects are very important: 1. Very 'vivid', pellucid, and 2. Nothing real. Tasting either one will not trigger the 'aha' realization."

The initial non-dual insight is often characterized by this first aspect: a "hyperreal" vividness and stark clarity. However, the maturation of wisdom requires the integration of the second aspect: directly seeing the dream-like, empty, non-arisen, and insubstantial nature of these very vivid phenomena.

This is precisely what Dōgen, Ejō's master, pointed to when describing the dream-like relativity of all things. In his Mountains and Waters Sutra, he illustrates that there is no absolute, independently existing reality:

Dōgen: "Not all beings see mountains and waters in the same way... Hungry ghosts see water as raging fire... Dragons and fish see water as a palace... Human beings see water as water... There is no original water."

There is no objectively "real" water, only the contextual, dependently arisen experience of "water-seeing." This vivid yet empty presence is like a dream. As Dōgen further clarifies, this dream is not a dull or sleepy state:

“The entire world, crystal-clear everywhere, is a dream; and a dream is all grasses [things] clear and bright. To doubt the dream state is itself to dream; all perplexity is a dream as well... Even as we study this, the very roots and stalks, leaves and branches, flowers and fruits, lights and hues [of our perception] are all a great dream. Never mistake this, however, for a dreamy state.”

This entire process of maturation corresponds to the Mahayana path of purifying the "obstruction of knowledge" (jñeya-āvaraṇa), which, as the Lankavatara Sutra explains, is distinct from the arhat's liberation from the "obstruction of passion" (kleśa-āvaraṇa). It is the difference between realizing the emptiness of the person (pudgala-nairātmya) and realizing the emptiness of all dharmas (dharma-nairātmya).

The Arising of Great Compassion: This deepening of wisdom is what gives rise to true, great compassion (mahākaruṇā). As Rujing clarified to Dōgen, the zazen of a Buddha is different from that of an arhat because it is grounded in great compassion and the vow to save all beings. This compassion is not a moralistic choice or a sentimental feeling, but the spontaneous, unobstructed, and natural expression of wisdom in action. When the boundary between self and other is truly seen as illusory, the well-being of another is no longer separate from one's own. This active compassion is the antidote to the pitfall of a dry, sterile "emptiness sickness," allowing one to live out the implications of non-separation in the world.

This continued path is the inseparable union of these two wings, a dynamic unfolding where practice becomes the effortless expression of enlightenment itself.

Conclusion: The Living Light of Practice-Enlightenment

Koun Ejō's Kōmyōzō Zanmai provides more than a map to a destination; it charts the entire territory of liberation. The path guides the practitioner through a profound sequence of deconstruction: from discovering the foundational ground of Presence, to seeing the world as Mind's radiant display, and finally, to the crucial insight into anātman which dissolves even that ground into a selfless, agentless, and radiantly impermanent process.

Yet, as Ejō and his master Dōgen make clear, this ultimate insight is not a sterile endpoint but a vital gateway. It is the end of the seeker, but the true beginning of practice-enlightenment (shushō-ittō), where every action becomes the living expression of awakening. The "Treasury of Light" is fully realized not in a static abiding, but in the dynamic flight of the two wings of wisdom and compassion. Wisdom matures to see the dream-like emptiness within the vivid, pellucid display of reality, while great compassion arises as the spontaneous, functional expression of non-separation. Thus, the light is not merely realized; it is lived. To engage with this text is to be invited not just to find the light, but to become its ceaseless, compassionate, and wise unfolding in the world.

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This translation of a crucial Soto Zen text written by the dharma heir of Zen Master Dogen is provided solely for your personal reference, and its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Please do not reproduce or distribute this version elsewhere, as it was translated from Japanese using Gemini Pro 2.5. Since I do not read Japanese (I am only conversant with English and Chinese), I am unable to verify the correctness of this translation. If you are proficient in Japanese and can provide feedback regarding its accuracy, please feel free to contact me: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/p/contact-us.html

Original Japanese Text: http://cbeta.buddhism.org.hk/xml/T82/T82n2590_003.xml

The Gemini Prompt I used to translate: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2025/04/ai-gemini-prompt-to-translate-atr-blog.html

Preface to the Re-carving of the Samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity

This book, the Samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity, is a single portion of the ūrṇā-light of our Master Zō, which the Master used to illuminate and break through. Later generations use it to reflect back and illuminate themselves. The World-Honored One’s five periods of transformative teaching, the High Ancestor’s legacy of instruction throughout his life—how could there be anything else? About one hundred years ago from now, in the autumn of the five-hundredth anniversary of Master Zō, designated by the posthumous name Kei, he ordered the elder Fuken Hōmenzan and Eikei Genryō to strive together to carve it onto woodblocks and make it public to the world. Thereupon, the beginningless dark room suddenly opened, and the luminosity of Dharma-nature shone again. As stars and frosts passed for a long time, the original blocks wore away, and the book also became scarce in the world. This humble monk anxiously sought it for years but could not obtain it. In the autumn of Meiji, the year of Tsuchinoe-Tora (1878), on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, coinciding with the six-hundredth distant death anniversary of the Master, my Dharma brother, the former Butsutoku Ken’an, brought this book and with great effort ascended the peak. This humble monk swept the room, burned incense, and joyfully received it. How could this merely be like recovering a neighbor’s lost ring, or pearls returned to Hepu? It is also the great fortune of his descendants and a great luminosity in this degenerate age. Thus, I entrusted it to the former head monk of Teisan, planning its re-carving. Now, the carving is complete. Ah! The tens of thousands of distant descendants in the final stream only know how to dwell securely in the remaining luminosity and do not arise to reflect it back upon themselves. Then, the Master’s luminosity may fall to the ground, one cannot know. Should we not be vigilant?

Time: Meiji 12th year (1879), sixth month, auspicious day.

Respectfully prefaced by Mitsuun, unworthy [descendant of] the 61st generation of Eihei.

Preface to the Samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity

The Buddha said, "Wisdom’s luminosity is like the shining of the sun." This is precisely prajñā’s reflective illumination, what is called "illuminating and seeing the five skandhas are all empty." The Zen school calls this "turning back the luminosity to reflect inwardly." Master Ei’s entire life of transformative activity was never outside of this. Master Zō inherited this and expounded this volume; it can be said that the son followed the father. In my younger years, while reading the Tripitaka at Sannōrin in Sōshū, an old practitioner from Jōmō Tōkai entrusted this one volume to me. He himself said that twenty years prior, he had obtained it from the ancestral mountain in Esshū. I joyfully received it for myself. Examining Master Kei’s Dharma words, it is said: "For those who practice zazen, it is the Dharma gate of ease and joy, the wondrous Dharma of great liberation. It is the mind-seal of mind transmitting to mind for each person, the standard of Dharma received through Dharma for every individual. There is no distinction between wise and foolish, no separation between ordinary and sagely. All thoroughly abide in the samādhi of self-enjoyment, and together realize entry into the samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity. It is fundamentally free from the functioning of mind, mentation, and consciousness, and moreover, it is not to be fathomed by thoughts, ideas, or views. Have all of you apprehended this yet?" After a long pause, he said, "It manifests without thinking; it is accomplished without turning about." Master Kei can indeed be said to have received the direct, legitimate transmission, without altering it in the slightest. Dairyūzan Eikei, an ancient temple in Bungo Province, was founded by Master Zō in the Hōji era (1247-1249). The current abbot is named Daishin Genryō. He offered his robes and funds to carve this onto woodblocks. This old monk, with sympathetic joy, finally added a verse of praise, which also serves as a preface:

When the time and conditions ripen, one encounters the wondrous teaching;

A fine karmic connection from countless kalpas past.

Golden-winged garuḍas are hard to bind with golden snares;

Jade horses are still urged on by white jade whips.

Wind striking bamboo sounds dispels the morning mist;

Water holding the moon’s reflection brightens the autumn sky.

The samādhi of light, magnificently revealed,

Pervades and illuminates the three thousand saha worlds.

Inscribed respectfully on the twenty-third day of the eighth month, third year of Meiwa, Hinoe-Inu (1766), by the eighty-four-year-old Hōmenzan, a distant descendant of the twenty-eighth generation.

Samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity

Recorded by Kangan Giin

In the Shōbōgenzō, there is a fascicle on "Luminosity." To now present this one chapter anew is solely to fully embody that the essential character of a Buddhist is the samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity. This is the subtle practice and hidden functioning for both self-benefit and benefiting others, for those who have long engaged in deep practice and entered the inner chamber.

Now, this Treasury of Luminosity is the fundamental source of all Buddhas, the inherent possession of all sentient beings, and the entire reality of all dharmas; it is the perfect awakening's spiritual power, the great treasury of luminosity. The three bodies, four wisdoms, and all the various samādhis, numerous as dust motes manifesting from every gate, all manifest from within this. The sixteenth chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the "Ascending to the Summit of Mount Sumeru" section, has a verse saying: "Dīpaṃkara Tathāgata’s great light, among all auspicious things, is the most supreme. That Buddha once came and entered this hall, therefore this place is most auspicious," so it is said. This great luminosity of Dīpaṃkara Buddha pervades the dharma-realm, and because there is no difference between ordinary and sagely, "That Buddha once came and entered this hall." To accept this upon a single hearing is precisely to "enter this hall." Because "therefore this place is most auspicious," when Śākyamuni Tathāgata received the prediction from Dīpaṃkara Buddha, he said it was "unobtainable/ungraspable." For this reason, he received the prediction from Dīpaṃkara Buddha. This is because this one stage of luminosity extends through past and present. If there were even the slightest thing to be obtained, it would be two stages.

The Mahāvairocana Sūtra, "Entering the Mantra Gate, Chapter on Abiding in Mind," the first, says: "At that time, the Bhagavat addressed Vajrapāṇi, saying: 'Bodhicitta is the cause, great compassion is the root, and skillful means are the ultimate. Secret Master, what is bodhi? It is to know one's own mind as it truly is. Secret Master, this is anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Moreover, of that dharma, not even a small part is obtainable/unfindable/ungraspable. Why is that? The characteristic of empty space is bodhi; there is no knower nor anything to be explained. Why is that? Bodhi is signless. Secret Master, all dharmas are signless, meaning they are of the characteristic of empty space.' It also says: 'Secret Master, the Mahāyāna practitioner gives rise to the mind of the unconditioned vehicle; dharmas are without self-nature. Why is that? Just as those practitioners of old, observing the skandhas and ālaya[-vijñāna], knew their self-nature to be like an illusion, a mirage, a reflection, a spinning wheel of fire, a gandharva's city. Secret Master, they thus abandoned [the idea of] no-self. The master of mind, at ease, awakens to the fundamental non-arising of one's own mind. Why is that? Secret Master, because the past and future extremities of mind are unobtainable/unfindable/ungraspable. Thus knowing the nature of one's own mind, one transcends two kalpas of yogic practice.'" What is called "past and future extremities are unobtainable/unfindable/ungraspable" is because one's own mind is fundamentally non-arising. This is Vairocana’s great wisdom-light, thus it is.

Also, a verse from the eleventh fascicle of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: "The Buddha's body universally emits great light, its form-appearances boundless, extremely pure. Like clouds, filling all lands, everywhere extolling the Buddha's merit-virtues. Where the luminosity shines, all rejoice; beings who have suffering are all freed from it. Each is caused to arouse a mind of reverence and compassion; this is the Tathāgata's sovereign functioning." The same sūtra, "Chapter on the Luminosity of Awakening," the ninth, says: "At that time, the luminosity surpassed hundreds of thousands of worlds, pervasively illuminating a million worlds in the eastern direction. The southern, western, northern directions, the four intermediate directions, above and below, were also thus. In each one of those worlds, there were a hundred koṭi Jambudvīpas, up to a hundred koṭi Akaniṣṭha heavens. All that was therein was clearly manifest (and so on). At that time, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in all places, simultaneously from the presence of each Buddha, uttered this verse, saying: 'The Tathāgata is most sovereign, transcending the world, without any support. Endowed with all merit-virtues, he liberates all that exists. Unstained, unattached, without conceptualization, without support. His essence-nature is immeasurable; those who see him all praise him. Luminosity pervades with purity, all dust and defilements are cleansed away. Unmoving, free from the two extremes, this is the Tathāgata's wisdom.'"

Therefore, Tathāgata-wisdom is luminosity. It is the samādhi of luminosity of unmoving wisdom that has abandoned the two extremes of ordinary and sagely, true and conventional. It is the non-discriminating wisdom-light of Mañjuśrī of great wisdom. This comes to be readily manifest in the non-fabrication of just sitting. Therefore, Vairocana addressed the Secret Master, saying: "The Mahāyāna practitioner gives rise to the mind of the unconditioned vehicle; dharmas are without self-nature." The Third Patriarch, Great Master [Sengcan], said: "Do not seek the true; only cease views." Clearly know that within the Treasury of Luminosity of the unconditioned vehicle, there is no self-nature and no views. Self and views are different names for demonic apparitions. From the beginning, not establishing views of self and I, nor even Buddha-views or Dharma-views, there is only this luminosity. One should attentively listen: Prajñā-pāramitā is "like a great mass of fire."

The Lotus Sūtra says: "At that time, the Buddha emitted a ray of luminosity from the ūrṇā-characteristic between his eyebrows, illuminating eighteen thousand worlds in the eastern direction, everywhere without exception, reaching down to the Avīci hell and up to the Akaniṣṭha heaven." Therefore, this auspicious luminosity is the foremost, rare numinous luminosity (靈光) accomplished by the Buddha. The Great Adept Mañjuśrī, answering Maitreya’s question, said: "This fundamental auspicious luminosity [appeared when] the past Buddha Candrasūryapradīpa, when preaching the Mahāyāna sūtras, entered the samādhi of the station of immeasurable meanings. Now, Śākyamuni Buddha, in preaching the Wonderful Dharma Lotus Teaching, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, protected and kept in mind by Buddhas, [shows the same sign]." One should know that this light, which perfectly fulfills immeasurable meanings, is the great, all-pervading luminosity, not two, not three. Mañjuśrī at that time was called Bodhisattva Myōkō (Wonderful Luminosity). He was the teacher for the eight sons of Buddha Candrasūryapradīpa, causing them to be firm in the unexcelled Way. The last to become a Buddha was named Dīpaṃkara Buddha. Thus, know that the zazen of our school is the samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity of the direct, legitimate transmission from Dīpaṃkara and Śākyamuni. What other meaning could there be? This is the luminosity of the non-duality of ordinary and sagely, the one vehicle of present and past. It is not emitted from within, nor let in from without. Who, regarding noble or base, close or distant, would recklessly become disheartened? Unobtainable/ungraspable, unrelinquishable. Why suffer from the emotional consciousness of grasping and rejecting, loving and hating? Not only that, but in the "Chapter on Peaceful Practices," he addressed Mañjuśrī, saying: "If a Bodhisattva-mahāsattva abides in the ground of patience, is gentle and compliant, and not impulsive or violent, and whose mind is also not alarmed; and further, regarding dharmas, does not practice anything, but contemplates all dharmas’ true appearance, neither practicing nor discriminating—this is just sitting. This is just kinhin (walking meditation). Not practicing, not discriminating, one follows along with the great luminosity." A verse in the same chapter says: "Rather than making inverted discriminations that all dharmas are existent or non-existent, are real or not real, are arising or not arising; abiding in a quiet place, cultivating and gathering one's mind, dwelling securely unmoving like Mount Sumeru. Contemplate all dharmas as entirely non-existent, just like empty space, without any solidity, not arising, not ceasing, unmoving, not regressing, constantly abiding in one appearance. This is called the near place." This is the direct indication of "directly abandoning skillful means, only teaching the unsurpassable Way."

In the land of China, Great Master Bodhidharma, in response to Emperor Wu of Liang’s question about the ultimate meaning of the holy truths, said: "Vast emptiness, without sageliness." This is the great mass of fire of luminosity of the Patriarchal Zen. Luminous on all eight sides, there is not a single thing. Outside of luminosity, there is no separate practice, no different dharma. How much less could there be a realm of wisdom? How could there be cultivation, realization, antidotes, or fabrications? The Emperor said: "Who is it that stands before me?" Bodhidharma said: "I do not know." This is only the one stage of vast luminosity. Later, Chan Master Xuedou Xian praised it, saying: "Holy truth, vast emptiness—how to discern the mark? Who is it that stands before me? He again said, 'I do not know.'" If one deeply investigates this dialogue and breaks through, one’s entire body is light, the entire realm is luminosity.

The thirty-ninth successor to the World-Honored One, Great Master Kuangzhen of Yunmen Mountain, ascended the hall and instructed the assembly, saying: "Everyone entirely possesses luminosity; when you look for it, you do not see it, it is obscure and dim. What is this luminosity of yours?" The assembly had no reply. The Master answered for them: "The monks' hall, the Buddha hall. The kitchen, the storehouse, the temple gate." Now, what the Great Master says, "entirely possesses luminosity," he does not say it will appear in the future, nor that it existed in the past, nor that it comes from the side and is now present. He states that "everyone entirely possesses luminosity." This is the precise essential meaning of great wisdom-luminosity. One should hear and uphold this with one’s skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. One should joyfully practice it. Luminosity is each and every person. Śākyamuni and Maitreya are other people's servants. That it does not increase in all Buddhas nor decrease in sentient beings—this is this numinous luminosity (靈光). Therefore, it is "entirely possessed." The great earth is a single mass of fire. The Master said: "What is this luminosity of yours?" At that time, the great assembly had no reply. Even if there were hundreds or thousands of answers, it would be no reply. Yunmen answered for them: "The monks' hall, the Buddha hall. The kitchen, the storehouse, the temple gate." This self-answer answers for everyone, answers for the light, answers for the obscure dimness, answers for the assembly's non-reply, and is the samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity that develops luminosity. Therefore, without questioning sentient beings or Buddhas, without discriminating between the sentient and insentient, the luminosity has pervasively shone for a long time, without beginning and without location. Therefore, it is "obscure and dim." What is it like? It is like walking in the night. It is inconceivable for hundreds of millions of kalpas.

Again, a monk asked: "Luminosity silently illuminates, pervading the sands of the Ganges." Before he finished asking, the Master quickly interjected: "Is this not Scholar Zhang Zhuo’s phrase?" The monk said: "It is." Yunmen said: "A botched telling!" Homage to Yunmen, the ancient Buddha! Eyes like shooting stars, capacity swift as lightning. At this, the monk was speechless. Who would not know shame?

Chan Master Xuefeng Cun instructed the assembly, saying: "The Buddhas of the three times turn the great Dharma wheel within flames." Yunmen said: "The flames preach Dharma for the Buddhas of the three times; the Buddhas of the three times stand and listen." Therefore, flames and luminosity are the dōjō of the Buddhas of the three times. They are the teachers of all Buddhas. For this reason, all Tathāgatas abide within the fundamental dōjō of the luminosity of great nirvana, and amidst myriad forms, they constantly preach Dharma. Value the ears, do not devalue the eyes. A pile of flames—this is not before, this is not after; it is only embodied and readily manifest. Despite this, people give rise to their own discriminations, merely demeaning and limiting themselves, saying, "I am originally an ignorant sentient being, an unwise ordinary person." This is truly the unpardonable karma of slandering the Tathāgata's true Dharma wheel. Now, Xuefeng’s instruction to the assembly and Yunmen’s saying that flames preach Dharma are "directly abandoning skillful means." It is "only teaching the unsurpassable Way." It is upholding the teachings of the entire generation. Xuefeng’s words were quickly burned up by the flames. Do you all want to avoid this? Chanting sūtras, performing prostrations, lifting the foot, setting the foot down—all are the great functioning of luminosity, presently manifest. Due to whose power of grace does one learn this? Not knowing this profound meaning, some toil in vain at quieting thoughts. Others, doubting that it could be otherwise, make their living in a demon’s cave. There are also those who are like counting sand grains in the sea. Some are like mosquitoes trying to break through a paper window. Botched tellings aside, all you great adepts, what is it? Though there is no time for washing a clod of earth in the mud, practitioners of Zen must first understand the huatou (critical phrase) in a question. Since it is called "silent illumination" and "pervading the sands of the Ganges," how could it be the scholar’s words? How could it be the World-Honored One’s words? How could it be your words? Ultimately, whose words are they? The monks' hall, the Buddha hall, the kitchen, the storehouse, the temple gate. Listen attentively, listen attentively!

Great Master Zhaoxian of Changsha ascended the hall and instructed the assembly, saying: "The entire ten-direction world is the śramaṇa's eye. The entire ten-direction world is the śramaṇa's everyday talk. The entire ten-direction world is the śramaṇa's whole body. The entire ten-direction world is one's own luminosity. In the entire ten-direction world, there is not a single person who is not oneself." Therefore, in the study and practice of the Buddha Way, one must diligently study. One must gain faith. If one does not form a connection with the Buddha's house life after life, how could one hear such an instruction? Again and again, one must not become increasingly estranged and distant. Now, what Changsha says, "the entire ten-direction world," is the single eye of the person engaged in study and practice. It is the entire empty sky, the entire body and mind. Not yet grasping the sagely, not yet abandoning the ordinary. Not saying the deluded person is not this, not saying the awakened person is thus. He directly points: "It is one's own luminosity." Do not yield to Great Master Changsha. This sermon in the hall is the horizontal and vertical talk within your nostrils. It is the horizontal grasp and inverted use within each person's eyes. Some, separately taking up old koans, do not reflect back even unto death, and do not know. Each one is a rich man's child without trousers. Also, hearing the word "light," foolish people think it is like the glow of a firefly, like lamplight, like the luminosity of the sun, moon, gold, or jade. They search and calculate, trying to see a radiance. Dwelling on it in their minds, they conjecture with their conceptual faculty, and incline towards a state of empty quiescence. Because of this, they stop activity and return to stillness. Or, the view of real existence, the deluded view of something to be obtained, is hard to abandon. Or, thoughts of the inconceivable and profound do not cease. They only think deeply that it is "hard to encounter, hard to meet." There are many such "rice bags" (useless monks) sleeping with their eyes open. If it is truly an inconceivable and profound great matter, why do you deludedly imagine you can reach it through thinking? These are a demonic host who have understood the mental faculty’s quiet contemplation to be the Buddha’s sitting. For this reason, the Patriarchal Master (Bodhidharma) revealed, "Vast emptiness, without sageliness; I do not know." To encounter such a revelation is "hard to encounter, hard to meet."

Chan Master Changsha said: "People who study the Way do not know the truth, only because from the beginning they recognize the mental faculty. The root of birth and death for immeasurable kalpas—the foolish call it the original person." Therefore, to measure one's own mind, to establish something to be obtained, and to cultivate and realize—this is to nourish the root of birth and death. Now, what is shown as "truth" and "original person" is the primordially existent, perfectly accomplished, vast luminosity. Outside of the vast luminosity, what thing do you intend to greedily seek? Therefore, "without sageliness," "I do not know," an iron hammer without a hole, a great mass of fire—it is only this.

Zhaozhou asked Nanquan: "What is the Way?" Nanquan said: "Ordinary mind is the Way." Zhaozhou said: "How should one orient towards it?" Nanquan said: "If you intend towards it, you immediately turn away." Zhaozhou said: "If I do not intend, how can I know the Way?" Nanquan said: "The Way does not belong to knowing or not knowing. Knowing is deluded awareness; not knowing is blankness. If you truly reach the Way of no-doubt, it is like the vast emptiness, open and clear. How can one force 'is' and 'is not' upon it?" Therefore, the ancients, pitying those who mistakenly oriented themselves through the power of cultivation and fabrication, carefully guided them, saying: "The Way is unobtainable/unfindable/ungraspable by the mind of existence, unobtainable/unfindable/ungraspable by the mind of non-existence. It cannot be conveyed by words, nor reached by silence. The moment you engage in deliberation, you are separated by ten thousand leagues." All of you, all worldly and transmundane matters and principles—outside of this mind of existence and mind of non-existence, can there be any thought of cultivating the mind? Since it is said to be unobtainable/unfindable/ungraspable either by the mind of existence or the mind of non-existence, why do you not quickly let go of the deluded thoughts of seeking mind and abandoning mind? Or perhaps, those ordinary people of little faith and laziness, who have not even reached this capacity, greedily attach to the illusory appearance of self, and busily run about in the world of dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows, not knowing they are possessed by the demon of worldly cleverness. There is no time when their discriminating intellect rests. They merely imagine, based on hearsay, that "light" must be like sparks issuing from the Buddha's brow. Interpreting the words according to the text, they never set a day to thoroughly clarify the truth of the sages. Even if long-practicing, accomplished people appear in the world, they have no part in advanced practice. How much less could they definitively affirm "entire body light," "dharma-realm light," "covering heaven and earth"? They are pitiful sellers of Buddhism, attached to appearances.

Śākyamuni Buddha said: "Luminosity, luminosity is not blue, yellow, red, white, black. Not form, not mind. Not existent, not non-existent. Not a dharma of cause and effect. It is the fundamental source of all Buddhas, the root of practicing the Bodhisattva path, and the root of all these Buddha-children in the great assembly." Therefore, the Tathāgata, whose essence-nature is already empty space, emerged from the Flower Luminosity Samādhi and sat upon the Adamantine Thousand-Luminosity King Throne. He thus expounded the one precept-luminosity. It is clearly known that this luminosity is not blue, yellow, red, white, or black. It is only the Bingding Fire Child, entirely red. It is the mud ox walking at the bottom of the sea. It is the iron ox without skin or bones. Not form, not mind—why then insert a seeking mind into your chest and continually pant inwardly? Moreover, this is not a dharma of cause and effect. How could it be fabricated through cultivation and realization? Truly, this is the fundamental source of all Buddhas, and indeed the root of all Buddha-children. Not only that, it is the one precept-light that Vairocana Buddha has upheld since his initial aspiration. Therefore, it is called the "Mind-Ground Chapter." It is separate from all names and appearances/characteristics. This is called the mind-ground's precept-luminosity.

Śākyamuni Tathāgata said: "If a person preaching the Dharma is alone in an empty, quiet place, where it is silent and no human voice is heard, and recites this sūtra, I at that time will manifest for them a pure body of luminosity. If they forget phrases or sentences, I will explain them to make them fluent." Therefore, at the time of reciting this sūtra, "I at that time will manifest a pure body of luminosity." The body and mind of all Buddhas are luminosity. The lands of all Tathāgatas are the Land of Eternally Tranquil Luminosity. Both the pure land and the body-mind are nothing but luminosity. Therefore, it is called eighty-four thousand, or even innumerable, lights.

Chan Master Baoning Yong, citing the story of flames preaching Dharma, presented a verse, saying: "A pile of fierce flames extends across the heavens, red; the Tathāgatas of the three times are within this. Turning the great Dharma wheel is now complete; a clear wind arises above the eyebrows."

When one studies deeply in the inner sanctum of the Buddhist path, one naturally sees through the preaching of Dharma by flames in this way. Therefore, this pile of fierce flames blazes through the three times; it has no place of arising, no appearance, and no differentiations. Thus, it ultimately has no place of extinction. Because it is entirely without differentiation, this is the fundamental natural scenery of the myriad forms of existence, sentient beings, and all Buddhas. Why do contemporary students not protect and keep this in mind, and have faith and understanding in it? Because they do not have faith and understanding in this, they become low and foolish ordinary people and do not escape evil rebirths and saṃsāra. Where does the fault lie? One must turn back to oneself and see through it.

Those who belong to the lineage of worldly truth dissemination, calculating illusory and impermanent dharmas to be truly permanent, find no leisure from worldly gains and losses. Unable to maintain [their lives] even until tomorrow, not waiting for the outgoing breath or the incoming breath, they place deep and long-lasting reliance on a lamp before the wind, transient for a moment, and according to favorable or unfavorable circumstances, they either rejoice or grieve. Even your four great elements and five skandhas will vanish like dew on the eastern Tàishān or northern Mángshān, and of those things you cling to as "my possessions," there is not even a speck of dust. Yet, you pass your days and nights complacently, as if you truly existed. How much more so for things external to the body, such as lands, cities, wives, children, fields, houses, manors, gold, jade, and clothing—to think of these as one's own possessions is the height of folly. Those who do not truly believe in this reality, and who single-mindedly accumulate, seek, and cling, all perish without exception, and it is sorrowful how they disappear without a trace. This is not waiting for the teachings of the sūtra texts; it is the principle before your very eyes.

Since it is already "a pile of fierce flames," therefore the Tathāgatas of the three times are also within this, and the multitudes of the four kinds of birth are also within this. How is it that there is a difference between Buddha and sentient being here? It is said: Those who deludedly cling to self and I, not believing in the luminosity, with [the idea of] "I," sink and float in birth and death, yet are within this. Also, those who see through the light, the great wisdom of equality and non-obstruction is readily manifest, and they are within this. Therefore, Yongjia said: "Not departing from this very place, ever still and silent. Seeking it, you know it cannot be seen. Ungraspable, unrelinquishable. In the midst of the ungraspable, just thus it is obtained." Patriarch Nāgārjuna, praising prajñā, said: "Prajñā-pāramitā is like a great mass of fire, unapproachable from any of its four sides."

Although everyone hears and sees such great teachings, they only study them as if they were another's realm, and do not experience a thorough breakthrough in their entire being, nor do they completely penetrate it with their whole self. Instead, they say: "I am an unsuitable vessel. I am a beginner. I am a recent student. Or, I am an ordinary person who has not yet severed a single delusion." They do not let go of their old views and personal views. All day and all night, dwelling within the great Treasury of Luminosity of prajñā, they make themselves into lowly hired workers, becoming prodigal sons who have toiled in poverty for over fifty years. This is because they give rise to the arrogance of self-deprecation, forgetting the father's command that they are originally a rich man's child. How sorrowful! To cling to oneself as a vessel for removing filth, constantly becoming a lowly person who removes filth, and to consider the pure body of luminosity as a defiled body of suffering results—this is sorrow within sorrow; nothing surpasses this. One should quickly reform the partiality of one's own views. Even if one discusses the principles of great and small [vehicles], provisional and true [teachings], exoteric and esoteric, or the wondrous tenets of the five houses and seven schools, when one's own views persist, one ultimately returns to arising and ceasing. Therefore, it is said: "If one tries to understand true reality with a mind of arising and ceasing, true reality itself becomes arising and ceasing." Self-view, being-view, sentient-being-view, lifespan-view—these are one's own views. Self-view, extreme views, wrong views, view-attachment—these are one's own views. Up to [the stage from] equal awakening to wondrous awakening, what is called "ignorance fine as dust motes or silk gauze" is also one's own views. Initially, it is called self-view, or intellectual understanding, habitual tendencies, dharma-attachment, traces of awakening, the view of "nothing-to-do," the view of "level ground"—all are different names given according to the quantity and weight of one's own views. Why is this so? From the very first great evil, perverse views, down to a single point of silk-gauze ignorance, when one's own views are absent, what could one call Buddha-view or Dharma-view? Who would there be to retain the silk gauze? Therefore, the Founding Master (Dōgen) said: "One should first extinguish the self and I. If one wishes to extinguish the self and I, one must contemplate impermanence." This is the direct indication of the utmost, great, sincere mind.

Great Master Shǎolín's (Bodhidharma's) Dharma Gate of Peace of Mind says: Question: "Worldly people engage in various kinds of learning; why do they not attain the Way?" Answer: "Because they see their 'selves,' they do not attain the Way. 'Self' means 'I.' The perfected person, encountering suffering, does not grieve; meeting joy, does not rejoice. This is because they do not see their 'selves.'" Also, an ancient Buddha's verse says: "The Buddha sees no self; wisdom is the Buddha. If there were truly a separate wisdom, there would be no Buddha. The wise can know that sinful hindrances are empty, and are calmly unafraid of birth and death." To be unafraid of birth and death is because one does not see a self. Not seeing a self is because one is without personal views. Great wisdom-light is thus impartial; therefore, it is said, "Wisdom is the Buddha."

Despite this, while cherishing this body which is like dew on grass or a floating bubble, you think of the great luminosity which is your fundamental self as if you were criticizing something unrelated, and imagine there must be something more imposing than this. You idly discuss the governance or misrule of the country, the quality of offerings, and have no settled practice for how this fleeting body, which passes by in vain, will find its final resting place. If, within this Treasury of Luminosity, there were even a small portion of faith gained and practice gained, how could it be merely the liberation of your own single self? Repaying the four kinds of gratitude above, benefiting the three realms below, mountains, rivers, the great earth, one's own body, others' bodies—all would be pervasively illuminated by the thusness of light, without limit.

Great Master Caoshan Benji's verse says: "The nature of awareness, perfectly luminous, is a signless body; do not, concerning views and understanding, forcibly make distinctions of distant or close. If thought differs, one is obscured from the profound essence; if mind errs, it is not adjacent to the Way. Emotional distinctions among myriad dharmas sink one into objective realms; discriminating consciousness, in its multiplicity, loses the fundamental truth. If within these phrases one fully awakens and comprehends, one is clearly the person of old, without concerns."

This is precisely the direct pointing and direct explanation within the Treasury of Luminosity, and moreover, it is the place where he reveals the wondrous cultivation and fundamental realization. Whether monk or layperson, beginner or advanced student, without inquiring, without selecting for sharp or dull faculties, without difference of extensive learning or much knowledge, he directly points, "The nature of awareness, perfectly luminous, is a signless body," and it is not two, not three. "Nature of awareness" is Buddha-nature. "Perfectly luminous" is the one stage of great luminosity. It is the still luminosity of your present illusory body, which is signless. Therefore, an ancient worthy said: "The entire body is without reflections; the entire realm is unconcealed." If you have not yet comprehended, I will further ask for your sake: Pulverize your entire present body of four great elements, burn up your skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, and bring me one thing. Precisely at such a time, the Buddhas and sentient beings of past and present, the ordinary and sagely of the three realms, the myriad forms of existence—all, without exception, are the signless body.

Venerable Linji Yixuan said: "The four great elements do not know how to preach Dharma or listen to Dharma. The spleen, stomach, liver, and gallbladder do not know how to preach Dharma or listen to Dharma. Empty space does not know how to preach Dharma or listen to Dharma. Now tell me, what is it that knows how to preach Dharma and listen to Dharma?" This is the numinous luminosity (靈光), the signless body, that listens to Dharma without reliance. The ancients, for the sake of people, temporarily established a name, saying: "The person of the Way who listens to Dharma without reliance." Now it is said: "The nature of awareness, perfectly luminous, is a signless body." This one phrase explains it clearly. Furthermore, out of grandmotherly kindness, he shows the wondrous cultivation, saying: "Concerning views and understanding, do not forcibly make distinctions of distant or close." Those who are close to bad spiritual friends single-mindedly study views and understanding, and then say: "By the power of my study and practice, I have attained a Zen that surpasses Buddhas and Patriarchs. It is not a place that others can know through views." Those who are intimate with Zen's dynamic functioning [think], "Who else is there besides me?" This is precisely the evil mind possessed by Māra, the king of demons. It is the heterodox view of claiming attainment before having attained it. Next, those types who calculate a self and attach to appearances merely become disheartened and do not advance, saying, "I am of dull capacity. I am not of a scholarly nature. I am distant from a scholarly nature." This is to recklessly give rise to views and understanding. Because these two kinds of views and understanding arise, and one hates and loves, affirms and denies, all transforming into the four emotional considerations of mind, thought, emotion, and consciousness, he cuts them in two with one sword, saying: "If thought differs, one is obscured from the profound essence; if mind errs, it is not adjacent to the Way." Truly, should one not abandon bad spiritual friends and draw close to good companions? To learn views based on the preaching of an evil teacher, and to think of some as close and others as distant, is to recklessly give rise to views and understanding. This "Way" and "profound essence" are the sun-face and moon-face of the luminosity of the nature of awareness. However, from within this luminosity, an ignorant thought arises, and deluded mind and wrong thoughts proliferate. This is a floating cloud that obstructs the perfectly luminous moon of mind. Therefore, it is said, "it does not become adjacent."

"Emotional distinctions among myriad dharmas sink one into objective realms." The Tathāgata has already taught: "Mind, Buddha, and sentient beings—these three are without difference." He also said: "There is only the one vehicle Dharma." Although one hears and sees such great teachings, on your own part, you recklessly give rise to self and other, discriminate between noble and base, ordinary and sagely, and for the sake of the beauty or ugliness of sounds and forms, for poverty or wealth, loss or gain, you are carried away by objective realms. This is the outcome for those arrogant and faithless ones who rely on their views and understanding and are defiled by cultivation and realization.

"Discriminating consciousness, in its multiplicity, loses the fundamental truth." Buddhist Dharma, originally responding to myriad different capacities, is not without multiplicity: great and small [vehicles], provisional and true [teachings], partial and full, exoteric and esoteric, Chan and doctrinal schools, realization of the Way and Pure Land. If the conceptual faculty grasps at these, one ultimately loses the fundamental truth.

"If within these phrases one fully awakens and comprehends, one is clearly the person of old, without concerns." This "person of old" is the signless body of immobile sitting without doubt, without the fabrications of cultivation and realization, or mental effort. If even a hair's breadth of any intellectual understanding is placed in the mind, one is not "without concerns," one is not the "person of old."

Śākyamuni Tathāgata said: "At the place of Dīpaṃkara Buddha, I did not obtain any dharma [called] anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi." This is the one phrase of the meeting with Dīpaṃkara Buddha. One phrase, clearly understood, surpasses a hundred koṭi. One must study and practice this luminosity of no-obtainment. Now, as the final stream of the Tathāgata, those companions who have shaved their heads and wear dyed robes, though illuminated by Dīpaṃkara and spending their days and months, do not even wonder what Dīpaṃkara Buddha might be like. Therefore, they have no part in study and practice. They idly borrow the appearance of a renunciant and covet the four kinds of offerings. They are truly vagrants. If you say, "Not so!" then let me ask you for a moment: What is your Dīpaṃkara Buddha’s appearance and characteristics? You must not speak, you must not be silent. Speak quickly, speak quickly! How sorrowful! They only learn that Dīpaṃkara Buddha is a past Buddha and do not know that he shines brilliantly through past and present. How much less could you have faith and understanding that the preaching and nirvana are within your nostrils and eyes?

Now, there is a troop of śrāvakas of the lowest capacity who incessantly weary of birth and death and urgently seek nirvana. Giving rise to the passionate resolve for real existence and something to be obtained, you add Dharma-desire on top of your self-conceit, and your seeking mind does not cease even unto death. Because a blind teacher praises this as a good person with faith, you become proud of this self-attachment and [view of] something to be obtained, deeming yourself a diligent practitioner, and ultimately accomplish the path of hungry ghosts. However, what has been transmitted as constant, vigorous practice and as the blazing, firm, great samādhi in the Buddhist tradition is not, like your deviant samādhi, orienting towards cultivation and realization as two stages and seeking intellectual understanding.

Venerable Baizhang said: "Numinous luminosity (靈光) shines alone, far free from sense faculties and sense objects. Essence (體) reveals true constancy, not bound by words. Mind-nature is undefiled, fundamentally self-perfected. Just leave deluded conditions, and you are thusness Buddha." This numinous luminosity (靈光) has been uninterrupted from past distant kalpas until the end of future kalpas; this is called "constant vigorous practice." To be far free from sense faculties and sense objects, with the essence (體) revealing true constancy—this is called "blazing and ever firm." Entrusting oneself to this numinous luminosity (靈光), abiding unmoving—this is called the king of samādhis, the samādhi of just sitting.

Therefore, even in what is called "something to be obtained," there must be deep and shallow, luminosity and heavy. It is not merely that practicing only the attachment to phenomena and an outwardly-directed seeking of others, discriminating true and false in written words and phrases, or practicing giving with attachment to appearances, and mistakenly understanding the accumulation of merit and virtue, tormenting body and mind for the sake of extinguishing sins and giving rise to good, and boasting of this as vigorous practice—it is not only this that is called "something to be obtained." Even if you put down your brush and inkstone, sever human affairs, sit alone in an empty valley, eat wood and wear grass, sit for long periods without lying down—if, in your mind, you stop activity and return to stillness, exhaustively cut off delusions, and outwardly adhere exclusively to true principle, grasping and rejecting birth-and-death and nirvana, loving and hating—all this is entirely "something to be obtained." For this reason, Great Master Yongjia said: "Discarding existence and attaching to emptiness is also a sickness, just like avoiding drowning only to jump into fire. Abandoning deluded thoughts and grasping true principle—this mind of grasping and abandoning becomes artifice and falsehood. Students, not understanding, practice in this way; truly, they mistake a thief for their own son. Damaging the Dharma-wealth, destroying merit and virtue, all invariably comes from this mind, mentation, and consciousness."

Therefore, students, with body and mind, should take refuge within the Treasury of Luminosity, let their entire being break through in the Buddha's light, and whether sitting, lying down, or walking, it should be thus. Therefore, the World-Honored One said: "Buddha's child, dwelling in this ground, this is precisely Buddha's sphere of activity. Constantly within it, whether walking or sitting or lying down." Let no Buddha's child forget these golden words for even a moment. "This ground" is the Treasury of Luminosity. It is the sole Buddha vehicle. Do not, due to a single thought of turning away from awakening and uniting with dust, suddenly transform this Buddha's sphere of activity into the sphere of activity of animals or hungry ghosts.

Now tell me, Dīpaṃkara Buddha and Great Master Śākyamuni, and indeed this lamp-to-lamp continuation of the flame, the seven Buddhas and successive patriarchs—do you study and practice that their appearances and characteristics, and thus their nirvana and dōjō, are of distant antiquity? Do you hear and think that they are permanent and unperishing? Will you say they abide in the precious citadel of tranquil light? Do you understand that the Buddha's true Dharma-body is like empty space? If, at such a level, you have not broken through the den of learned calculations, how can you be called a master of the lineage of the Buddha's light? You are a wild fox howling in a lion's skin. If you have no part in investigating within your own eyes, then even if you shave your head and wear dyed robes, you are a pitiable sentient being. Even if you expound a thousand sūtras and ten thousand treatises, it is like calculating a neighbor's treasures. You are like a pearl diver who knows their preciousness but not their value. Now tell me, your present acts of defecating and urinating, wearing clothes and eating food—ultimately, whose sphere of activity is this? Not only that, the color of water, the luminosity on mountains, the passing of summer's heat and winter's cold, spring flowers, the autumn moon, thousands of changes, tens of thousands of transformations—what brings these about? Truly, "His countenance is exceedingly wondrous, his luminosity illuminates the ten directions." Birth-and-death and nirvana are like yesterday's dream. Existence is precisely non-existence; non-existence is precisely existence. If it is not thus, then even if one speaks of "constantly at Vulture Peak," it is an illusory dharma, an illusory theory. Even if one hears "unborn, unperishing, eternally tranquil light," it would be said that there are only words, entirely without true meaning.

Śākyamuni Tathāgata’s golden words of the one precept-light say: "Those who calculate a self and attach to appearances cannot believe this Dharma. Those who [seek to] extinguish lifespan and cultivate realization—this is also not a place to plant seeds. If you wish to grow the sprout of bodhi, let luminosity illuminate the world. One should quietly observe the true appearance of all dharmas: not arising, also not perishing; not permanent, also not annihilated; not one, also not different; not coming, also not going (and so on). Towards the learned and the unlearned, do not give rise to thoughts of discrimination."

Therefore, one must hear these golden words, "light illuminates the world," through one's bones and marrow. It is the wondrous body of the great functioning of all Buddhas of the three times, presently manifest. Receiving it with reverence, should not all greatly rejoice? Yet, looking at the practitioners of today, they dwell in the causal ground of foolish darkness and pass their time waiting, thinking that luminosity will be seen through only after polishing themselves morning and evening. Or again, they practice Zen, [mistaking] the blazing pure luminosity for scattered, miscellaneous thoughts, and incessantly try to sweep away the flames to see the eternally tranquil luminosity. If one says that non-arising is correct, then would wood, stone, and clods of earth be correct? These are all śrāvakas of the lowest capacity who avoid fire only to enter drowning. How foolish! To cling to the sitting of the two vehicles and the orientation of ordinary beings, and yet seek to awaken to the unexcelled great Way—there is no foolish, dull, or evil practice surpassing this. Therefore, it is said: "The two vehicles are diligent but lack the mind for the Way; heterodox paths are clever but lack wisdom. Also foolish, also idiotic, also of small capacity; they form a real understanding based on an empty fist or a finger." Obstructed by such mind-cultivation, mind-seeking, calculation, and conjecture, they not only bury the primordially complete and perfectly accomplished luminosity but also slander the Tathāgata's true Dharma wheel. This is unpardonable karma.

Moreover, it is not only those of little wisdom and foolish ignorance; as heads of various monasteries, guiding multitudes of blind people who are attached to self and the view of something to be obtained—from the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties in China down to the present, they are like rice plants, hemp, or bamboo reeds. Should one not pity them? Should one not grieve? Even among those who occasionally escape such dens, some see spirits, see demons, their thieving minds not yet dead. Or, in a temporary fit of courage, they recklessly give sanction. Or, a passionate resolve arises for a time, and they sit for long periods without lying down, their mind and consciousness becoming exhausted, and all things become a single piece. When activity just ceases and thoughts are quiet, it is as if empty yet numinous, vacant yet bright, and uniquely clear. This state, where inner and outer are struck into one piece, they mistakenly understand to be their own original share of ground. With this understanding, they present their views to a Zen master without eyes. The master, having no discerning eye, therefore responds according to the visitor's words, sanctions them with a "winter melon" seal, and they call themselves monks who have completed their Zen training. Those of shallow understanding and little learning who fall into this poison are too numerous to count. Truly, though this is called the degenerate age of Dharma, is this not utterly lamentable?

I respectfully address those of true practice and shared aspiration: Do not grasp a single circumstance, a single object. Do not rely on views or cleverness. Do not carry around the learning acquired on the long meditation platform. With body and mind, let go completely into the aforementioned Treasury of Luminosity, and do not look back a second time. Do not seek awakening; do not sweep away delusion. Do not dislike the arising of thoughts, nor cherish thoughts and continue them. One should sit grandly by the window. When you do not continue your thoughts, thoughts do not arise on their own. Just like a single expanse of empty space, like a single mass of fire, entrust yourself to the out-breath and in-breath, do not engage with myriad things, and sit, cutting off [all concerns]. Even if eighty-four thousand miscellaneous thoughts arise and cease, if the person does not engage with them and has completely abandoned them, then thought after thought will entirely become the spiritual power and luminosity of prajñā. This is not only in sitting. Step by step is the perambulation of luminosity. It is not discriminating step after step. Throughout the twelve hours of the day, one is like a great dead person. There is no personal view or discrimination whatsoever. Nevertheless, the out-breath, in-breath, the nature of hearing, the nature of touch, are without knowledge and without discrimination, yet body and mind are the one-thusness of silent, illuminating luminosity. Therefore, when called, one immediately responds. This is the luminosity of the one-thusness of ordinary and sagely, deluded and awakened. Even when in activity, one is not hindered by activity. Forest flowers, grasses and leaves, humans and animals, large and small, long and short, square and round—without the discrimination of your mental thoughts or intentions, they manifest simultaneously. This is the present realization of luminosity unhindered by activity. "Empty brilliance self-illuminates, without laboring mind-power."

This luminosity, from the origin, is without any place of abiding. Even if all Buddhas appear in the world, it does not appear in the world; even if they enter nirvana, it does not enter nirvana. When you are born, the luminosity is not born; when you die, the luminosity is not extinguished. It¹ does not increase in Buddhas, nor does it decrease in sentient beings. Moreover, when one is deluded, it is not deluded; when one awakens, it is not awakened. It has no location, no name or appearance. This is the entire reality of all myriad forms. Unobtainable/ungraspable, unrelinquishable, it is unobtainable/unfindable/ungraspable. Being unobtainable/unfindable/ungraspable, it is carried out through the entire body. From the highest heaven down to the Avīci hell, it is thus perfectly luminous. It is the numinous awareness (靈知) of spiritual wonder and inconceivability. If you have faith and accept this profound meaning, you need not ask another about true or false; it will be like meeting your own father in the marketplace. Do not desire the sanction of other spiritual friends or covet the attainment of a result. How much less so for the conduct of animals concerning food, clothing, shelter, and sensual desires and attachments!

This samādhi is from the very beginning the dōjō of the fruition-ocean of all Buddhas. Therefore, it is the uniquely transmitted Buddha-sitting, Buddha-practice. Since one is already a Buddha's child, one should only sit securely in the Buddha-seat. One must not necessarily sit in the hell-seat, hungry-ghost-seat, or even the animal-, asura-, human-, heavenly-being-seat, śrāvaka-seat, or pratyekabuddha-seat. Thus, just sitting, do not let time pass in vain. This is called the dōjō of the straightforward mind, the samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity of inconceivable liberation.

This chapter should not be shown to anyone who has not entered the inner chamber of the disciples. This is a piece of my heart for protecting the Dharma, so that in benefiting oneself and others, there may be no perverse views.

Recorded respectfully by Kangan Giin on the twenty-eighth day of the eighth month, first year of Kōan, Tsuchinoe-Tora (1278).

Samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity (End of main text)

It has been said of old: "Causes, conditions, and the right time are silently yet clearly manifest." Recalling this, our Master Zō first expounded it—this was the cause. That this old teacher (referring to Hōmenzan who received it) fortunately obtained it—this was the condition. That it waited until now, half a millennium later—this was the right time. Therefore, that it is carved on blocks and disseminated throughout the land—is this not "silently yet clearly manifest"? (I, the unworthy one) overflowing with gratitude, respectfully append these humble words thus.

Maintained in the third year of Meiwa, Hinoe-Inu (1766), eighth month, twenty-eighth day.

Respectfully written by Genryō, a late student of Eikeiji in Bungo Province.

Previously, on the occasion of Master Zō’s six-hundredth distant death anniversary, I offered this one volume of the Samādhi of the Treasury of Luminosity which he showed, and appended a vulgar verse. Now, informed that the re-carving is complete, I record it at the end of this volume.

Six hundred years ago, a worn-out staff,

Swallowed level the seas and mountains coiled beyond.

Reed flowers, bright moon, autumn wind refreshing;

Shadows move in the cold pool, a single sphere of the King.

Time: Meiji 12th year (1879), mid-sixth month.

Respectfully offered in homage by the former Butsutoku (Ken’an).